Housebound' benefits cheat caught at gym classes

A woman who claimed thousands of pounds in benefits saying arthritis left her on crutches and struggling to leave home, has been jailed after CCTV showed her taking part in classes at a gym.

Helen Green, 49, from Shrewsbury, was also a member of a running club and had completed a 10km run in just over an hour.

Green had told the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that severe rheumatoid arthritis in every joint and a slipped disc in her back had left her housebound, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard.

She was jailed for seven months after the DWP acted on a tip-off, with investigators establishing she regularly attended a range of gym classes, including Zumba, core blast and spin.

The DWP accused Green of falsely claiming £42,013 in PIP, but accepted a guilty plea to a sum of £25,244.

She had claimed her arthritis was a lifelong condition that would progressively get worse and said she could not walk for more than five minutes without the crutches.

She also told the DWP she needed help with washing, bathing, dressing, preparing meals and eating and drinking.

Mandy Tobias, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Helen Green pretended she had limited movement, but instead was a regular runner and active in gym classes.

"She did this for her own greed and lined her pockets with fraudulently obtained money."

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